The invention relates to a device for generating an impulse acting on a vehicle in a transverse direction of the vehicle, as a result of energy released during an impact of the vehicle against an obstacle.
To enhance the safety of modern motor vehicles, major efforts are made by the automobile manufacturers to meet increasingly demanding criteria of so-called crash tests, in particular of so-called offset crash tests. Here, a trend can be seen that the overlap upon impact between the obstacle and the vehicle becomes increasingly smaller, so that existing longitudinal rail structures of a vehicle body with currently required overlaps of only 25% as measured from the outside of the vehicle facing the obstacle without side mirrors are usually no longer directly involved in the collision and thus are no longer effective as a catch element for the impact energy. Currently, the so-called “small overlap test” of the US Institute for Accident Research IIHS forms such a loading combination.
Primarily in vehicles with longitudinally installed motor/drive unit, this crash test has the risk of so-called “entanglement”, “catching” or “blocking”. Entanglement, catching or blocking occurs because for providing adequate wheel well sizes, the longitudinal rails of a vehicle body cannot be moved outwards arbitrarily far. In the region e.g. in front of a front wheel outside of the longitudinal rail (front, right or left “vehicle corner”), the energy released during the impact in a crash test with little overlap cannot be transferred directly to the designated energy-absorbing structures, e.g. the vehicle's longitudinal rail. Such a vehicle moves in such a crash test following the impact toward the obstacle frontally almost unchanged, whereby the front wheel facing the obstacle hits the obstacle frontally, and is inadvertently pushed by the impact into the passenger compartment. The wheel suspensions and the wheel itself are hereby not suited to absorb the released impact energy.
It is known from WO 20121110529 to introduce parts of the impact energy into longitudinal rails of a vehicle body by way of cantilever beams and support structures.
It is known from DE 10 2004 036 322 A11 to provide deflector structures, at which the vehicle should not only slide off in the event of impact with very little overlap so as to cause a lateral displacement of the vehicle and preventing entanglement.
It is known from EP 53 72 201 to introduce forces that occur during a crash with small overlap into the A-pillar of a vehicle body via a support disposed above the wheel.
It is known from U.S. Pat. No. 8,152,224 to provide, in addition to the longitudinal rails arranged farther down in the vehicle, upper longitudinal rails having a repellent contour, so as to ensure a deflection or a lateral displacement of the vehicle.
Furthermore, it is known from US 2012/0248820 A1 to intentionally deform a longitudinal rail in the event of an impact toward the vehicle center by way of a deformation strut and to bring the deformed longitudinal rail section in contact with the drive unit, whenever possible, so as to introduce the impact energy into the drive unit.